Transformation

It's a wonderful life










When you watch most enduring Christmas movies or programs what is it about them that makes you feel good inside? What is it that stories like "A Christmas Carol", "Grinch", and "It’s a wonderful life", have in common?

For one thing, they all involved a story (parable) of someone who had a change of heart, or spirit (perspective) and then a transformation. In Mark 10:29 Jesus talks about how much more you will gain because you follow Him. If you consider that a transformation occurs, followed by a realization that you have more than you thought you had, then this perspective change makes sense. A practical example of this is a blind person who receives his sight. That person can now appreciate what was there all along, but he couldnt see it. That person now realizes how much he has, or has to be thankful for, for example.

God is in the transformation business. I have often thought about what a wonderfully creative God we serve. He loves to create, recreate, and transform. One look at nature will reveal that. When it comes to His children, He is more interested in changing us than he is our physical conditions. Now, he might change us BY changing our “temporal” conditions, too, but our change and growth of heart and spirit (which is eternal), is most important. We must remember that our physical conditions are always temporary and changing, and will not last forever, but our spirit will.

Finally, we sometimes have trouble discerning what “God’s will is”. I submit that if we follow Paul’s formula that is spelled out in ROMANS 12:2, we wouldn’t have this problem, as often. Paul wrote:

” And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

To the non-believer, this certainly means to reconcile themselves to God through Faith and trust in Jesus Christ. To the Christian, this means, pray for and seek new perspectives of existing conditions and a new awareness of opportunities to grow in love and faith. Too often, God shows us opportunities to grow in faith and love for Him many times, but we don’t recognize these. This holiday, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give us these new perspectives, so that we can have a Scrooge or Grinch-like transformation.





Merry Christmas to you and Happy Birthday Yeshua (Jesus)!
George